Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission today warns that any increased use of stop and search powers without proper accountability is in danger of increasing community tensions and alienating the very people the police should be engaging with to reduce crime.
Phillips said that there was already evidence of ‘reprehensible racial profiling’ by police - the act of simply stopping someone because you think their ethnicity is suspicious. He said that any increase in stop and search could exacerbate problems.
He said,
"We don't live in some post-racial melting pot where these powers are used fairly. No one from an ethnic minority who has been stopped - including me - ever believes that these stops are random. Today, black people are still 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than whites. We don't do seven times the crime, do we?
"And far from supporting those who say that policing has become less race conscious the figures show the reverse: the numbers of black people stopped has climbed by 12 per cent according to the latest Home Office figures.
"In the end we need to call this what it is - reprehensible racial profiling, the act of simply stopping someone because you think their ethnicity is suspicious. The number of Asian people stopped has increased by 14 per cent while the number of white people stopped has increased by 0.4 per cent. "
Phillips warned that with politicians keen on adopting policies of "in your face" policing, good practice built up over years could be lost. The Commission is urging the government to retain the policy of "reasonable suspicion" for police to conduct stop and searches. Furthermore, he said that proper records should always be kept.
Speaking on the day of the launch of the Flanagan Report on police administration, Phillips agreed that needless bureaucracy should be cut. But he warned that stop and search was a 1980s solution for a 21st century problem.
Phillips, who has just returned from a fact finding visit to New York, said:
“Throwing police into conflict with young men in the streets is a solution that has failed everywhere and every time it has been tried. If we really want to be protected, we could start by using police time more effectively on initiatives like after school sports activities, an approach which seems to have been showing signs of success from when it has been tried in New York by the present mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
"When it comes to crime-fighting, we should be smarter. Instead of investing in the cumbersome weapon of stop and search that at most leads to arrest in every 10th case - and very few convictions - we should stick to the patient, intelligence led approach.
"If politicians are hell-bent on going down the road of 'in your face policing', it's hard to imagine a faster route to disaster. The really tough thing to do would be to back some creative changes in equality law that would allow police forces to accelerate moves to make their ethnic make-up more reflective of the communities they serve."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is a statutory body established under the Equality Act 2006, which took over the responsibilities of Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the independent advocate for equality and human rights in Britain. It aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people, and promote and protect human rights.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission will enforce equality legislation on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status, and encourage compliance with the Human Rights Act. It will also give advice and guidance to businesses, the voluntary and public sectors, and to individuals.
For more information contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission Media Office on 0203 117 0255, out of hours 07767 272818.
Links
Read article by Trevor Phillips on Stop and Search for Daily Telegraph
Trevor Phillips' speech to CWU Black Workers Conference, 2 February 2008